Slashdot Mirror
Is Horse the New Mouse?
lopati writes "Europhysics News writes about a new ergonomical mouse called Horse (jpeg) that reduces repetitive stress injuries by allowing 'the three middle fingers to adopt a flexed position to relax the tendons' and including a thumb scrool [sic:] wheel. Just a few simple changes for so much more comfort!"
This is something I've known for a long time, when I put my three middle fingers into my horse it relaxes me a lot too, let alone the horse. Including a thumb every once in a while is a simple change that gives so much more comfort.
WikiAfterDark.com It's a sex wiki, go now!
Mirror here.
coral cache of the picture
I'd complain about the slashdot effect here, too, but that would be a bit like beating a dead horse.
If you think I'm clicking a link to "Horse.jpg"...
I am trolling
...would it be beating a dead horse? I'm here all week, ladies and gentlemen. Don't forget to tip the wait staff.
Kids these days. They don't know the difference between classic, and just plain old.
Of course, of course.. unless, of course it's a mouse; in which case it's actually neither.
There's a Starman, waiting in the sky / He'd like to come and meet us, but he hasn't got the time.
This is an option for some people but not others. In the late 1980s I used a device with a thumbwheel much the same and man a scroll thumbwheel after 5 minutes is hell on tendons more so than any other mouse I used.
But I can use a normal mouse all day long and not have a problem and have been doing so for years now.
So your mileage may vary.
Various companies are always coming out with new hardware designs that they claim will revolutionize how we interface with computers, like those split keyboards, and that keyboard that looked like a video game controller, etc but none of them ever pan out. This will be no different.
Sigs are for the weak.
http://www.europhysicsnews.com.nyud.net:8090/full/ 30/article10/article10.html
http://www.europhysicsnews.com.nyud.net:8090/full/ 30/article10/article10_2_0002.jpg
I assume they must have put at least a certain amount of research into the ergonomics of it, but I can't see how that would be comfortable to use -- particularly for someone who has bone or joint ailments like arthritis. Having your hand contorted over something that size seems like it'd probably be a little painful at best.
This will never catch on, especially on public computers. What about lefties? This thing doesn't look like it can be used properly with either hand at all.
Holy lack of paragraphs, Batman!
Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me
I can (and do) grip my logitech MX1000 in a way that looks like what they're trying to accomplish... Fingers bent a bit, hand relaxed over the top arch. Its buttons extend quite far along the body of the mouse, it's very comfortable.
vk.
Maybe we need a Horse, a mouse and a trackball each, then rotate them once a week...
Face it, do something enough times, and it can cause problems.
that already happened !
The world is full of right handed biased designers! Evil! Where's my left handed version? Don't you people know that your biased right hand designs make only a few of us left? (pun intended).
When you use a mouse, do you have your forearm at an angle to the mouse with your index finger on the left button (assuming right-handedness), your middle finger on the right button, and your ring finger on the "forward" button on 5-button mice? I've found that having my forearm parallel to the mouse with my middle finger on the scroll, my ring finger on the right mouse button, and my pinky on the forward button reduces the stress on my wrist since my wrist is no longer twisted at an odd angle. I was wondering if anyone else did this too.
--
Free iPod? Try a free Mac Mini
Or a free Nintendo DS
Wired article as proof
I use a drawing tablet..
Man i can OWN you on Unreal Tournament!! Take that!!! *scribble* *erase*
For me it just looks like a trackman that you move around. If you want to talk about really new things compared to the mouse, take a look at the Ergonomic Vertical Mouse That one is realy inovative compared to the old mouse. Or any of the other mice on that site. Want something REALLY new? Thy this one
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Europhysics News (2004) Vol. 35 No. 6 A new computer mouse called Horse C.J. Snijders and P.C. Helder, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In the early 60's Doug Engelbart, a scientist at the Stanford Research Institute in California, invented the computer mouse. This may certainly be seen as one of those brilliant tools we hardly can do without. However excellent the functionality of the mouse--we all use it with great ease--its recent form can also be a significant source of discomfort.
Repetitive movements cause physical complaints. This is one of the causative factors of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) or Occupational Overuse Syndrome (OOS) [1]. Rigid work patterns and prolonged periods of heavy work load can result in physical stress. Personality aspects are also considered to play a role in the development of RSI [2]. About 20% of the working population has complaints related to the neck-shoulder-arm region and overuse complaints can be the result of using the mouse. This is why a biomechanical research program was started by Erasmus MC,University Medical Center Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Biomechanical model
The present study has identified one cause for several physical problems in the neck-shoulder-arm region. Based on a pilot study a hypothesis was introduced that forceful gripping or pinching goes with tension in the deep neck muscles. To investigate this, blood flow velocity was measured in the region indicated in Fig. 1 (with permission from Sobotta,Atlas of Human Anatomy). The drawing shows the costoclavicular gate between clavicular bone and first rib (see circle). Neck muscle tension results in a narrowing of this gate and thus impingement of the subclavian artery and vein. This conclusion is supported by a biomechanical model of the aetiology of tennis elbow [3]. It describes the role of extensor muscles in the hand and lower limb and substantiates the finding that restriction of blood flow is caused by forceful pinching. Therefore we conclude that certain force application by the hand is related to tension in the deep neck muscles which explains a variety of shoulder- and arm complaints.
Design of a computer mouse called "Horse"
The use of a conventional computer mouse requires continuous lifting of the fingers. This results in excessive use of extensor muscles to avoid unwanted switching which can be seen as a possible cause of tension in the deep neck muscles. It was therefore decided to design a mouse that does not provoke extensor muscle activity. This new concept is called Horse in view of its functional design: the palm of the hand as well as the middle three fingers "sit" on the main body while thumb and little finger rest at a lower level at the side as if supported by stirrups (Fig. 2). Thumb and little finger work together to realize optimal control in the horizontal (X-Y) plane. The design of the Horse allows for the three middle fingers to adopt a flexed position to relax the tendons. A major part of these fingers rests in a more or less vertical position. Fig 1 Narrowing of costoclavicular gate (see circle) resulting in impingement of artery and vein (with permission from Sobotta,Atlas of Human Anatomy)
In view of this supported position of the hand and fingers, extensor muscles can relax. Extensor action is no longer required with the palm of the hand and fingers resting on the Horse. A light flexing action of the top of the fingers is sufficient to switch. This action results in a force on the touch switches situated at the lower end near the tips of the fingers. These switches react on touch force only which reduces or virtually eliminates the movement of the tendons when switching. Moreover, complete support of the fingers will reduce the necessity of co-contraction of the intrinsic muscles of the hand [4]. Other features as a result of the design of the Horse are: * a better stability control in the X-Y plane * the possibility to reduce friction of the Horse on the table Fig 2 Thumb at the side, major part of the three
Since it causes the hand to be in a more downward (as opposed to a straighter possition) if you can find a spare baseball or rubber band ball it gives you a good idea of what this would feel like to use. I happen to have a rubber band ball from a conference I went to in September handy and noticed the similarity when looking at the pic.
Personally, I kind of like it, I can kind of tell the difference with the tendons, but I'm not sure how well it would react in uses where your moving your hand a lot now that the center of where your pressing on the input device (no longer can you just call it a mouse...) seems to be more toward the wrist, so forward or side to side movements would require more effort or at least leverage. Would be interesting to try it out though.
We don't need an "overrated" so much as we need a "you completely missed the parent's point, dumbass..."
I switched to trackballs for this reason too. This mouse might help, but quite frankly, there is nothing that can still beat a good trackball.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Why not a special version for Slashdot moderators which allows just the one middle finger to be used for moderation?
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
horsies?
I've been using this for more than a year now. Love it. Solved my wrist pain almost immediately. The Vertical Mouse http://www.evoluent.com/
Personally, I find the problem has almost nothing to do with the shape of my mouse.
The most fatiguing aspect my own mousing is wrist-related. While you're using a mouse, your arm is just sort of hanging out there, putting a lot of stress on your wrist.
Think about it, in order to use your mouse, you MUST hold your elbow above the desk the whole time.
Some work has been done to alleviate wrist strain by adding those gel wrist pads, but I think what we really need to see is another pad further back to support your forearm.
The actual standard mouse shape itself is pretty good.
Try this:
Put your hand on your mouse.
Allow it to rotate to a comfortable angle. (For me about 10 deg CCW.)
Freeze your hand and wrist in that position, lift your hand up and look at it.
For me, the result is a very natural even spacing between all my fingers, almost the same you would see if let your arm go limp at your side.
IMO, workstations need more forearm support, not a different-shaped mouse. Take writing for example, you typically rest not just your wrist, but your whole arm on the paper as you write.
Life is too short to proofread.
I really don't see why this guy was modded troll. It's a valid question.
Anyways. Sic means "spelling incorrect," or, "Grammar incorrect." It's used to signify that they are using a quote from another source and that it's spelling and/or grammar in that location is incorrect and is not part of the editor's (quoter's) mistake.
hope that helps.
So when will Apple come out with their 1-button horse?
Then how do you expect mirrordot to get the original story? Mirrordot get the links through slashdot when slashdot posts the story.
Anyways [sic]. Sic means "spelling incorrect," or, "Grammar incorrect."
Just wanted to point out that "anyways" is n/s.
"The Borba"
I have one of these and never liked it. I got one of these and like it much better:
http://store.ergocube.com/evvermous.html
someone had to say it didnt they?
120 chars is not bloody enough for a real sig!!! you bastards even count spaces!!!
That's not a horse, its a DUCK!
Huh?
My Kensington Expert Mouse does this somewhat already.
It's a large trackball (the size of a billiard ball), and your three middle fingers do curve over it to reach the buttons during normal use. It does have a thumb scrollwheel, going around the circumference of the trackball! This is a very handy feature, and lets you dial through pages extremely fast (faster than you could wiggle your middle finger using an ordinary mouse wheel). It's optical, so it's precise and doesn't have the sticky-wheels problem older trackballs used to have.
Disadvantages:
* No place to rest a wrist (the provided wrist rest is a small little joke). A folded-up old sock fixes this.
* Dodgy Windows driver. (It's marked as "beta", but really is the only choice, since the officially released driver is absolutely ancient.) It really hates my switchbox, and doesn't have any way of regaining synchronization short of rebooting the machine. Works fine in Linux, though, but all the buttons aren't recognized (there are 4 buttons).
* The trackball doesn't track fast enough when rolled at high speed, making it useless for certain applications.
Still, I like it because it does fit my fingers better, and has some of the advantages of this new "horse" mouse.
Dr. Demento On The 'Net!